Double Trouble

26-03-2010

Yesterday was a bad day at the BO as my first favorite team was beaten in the second match and the second favorite team was beaten in the first match. The 007 franchise decided to go in for a younger Bond for this match as they felt that the franchise needed a makeover. Enter the latest blonde Bond Craig (Jadhav). He has just come from the finishing school and celebrates his elevation to the Double-O badge in style. When you have a debutant making such a huge impression; even superman can’t stand a chance.

In the second match; we had a bunch of professional assassins headed by the dreaded Bourne (Tendulkar) completing the perfect assassination. Bourne might be a professor these days but he showed us that he has not lost the touch and you don’t always need brute power. Sometimes a surgeon’s scalpel is much more effective than a scimitar.

Davy Jones Locker

25-03-2010

It was billed as the basement battle/Cellar Conquest. The match between the Criminals stretching for “The Longest Yard” and the Oceans crack team was like a roller coaster ride for both teams. In the end, the criminals led by Crewe (Warne) pulled a fast one and threw the Oceans to Davy Jones Locker (IPL points table). Is it possible to throw the Oceans to the bottom of the Ocean? Yes sir, that is what Captain Crewe showed us yesterday.

P.S: All non-enlightened readers; please read my post titled "Different Flavors of IPL III"

Superstar Vs Superman

24-03-2010

It was a humdinger of a contest yesterday and ultimately the man of steel prevailed over the Baba from Himalayas. Ultimately the only thing that our superstar won yesterday was the toss. I am sure our young Dalapathi would have done a Sivaji feat and kept the coin used for the toss. Let us hope that it is only the intermission for the team from down south and they can now catch up and finish off the baddies before the end of the movie.

P.S: For all the confused readers; I request you to read my previous post first

Different Flavors of IPL III

IPL Season III has begun and already I have become a couch potato. Every evening, I return from office anticipating a game of epic proportions. Every game in this cricket extravaganza is interesting as each team brings a different flavor. No, I did not mean the suaveness of Bangalore, the killer instinct of Mumbai or the sheer talent of Delhi. What I meant was that each IPL team is reminiscent of a popular Hollywood/Bollywood/Kollywood movie (read as super hero) to me and it makes me feel like Superman taking on Rajinikanth in one match and Jason Bourne taking on James Bond in another. OK, I think I confused you a lot… Let me put more insight to my thought process. Let us take Mumbai Indians first: We have two renowned assassins (read as cricketers) at the top of the order. Two people who have more than twenty years of experience in the trade they specialize in. They have completed with aplomb many an assassination (cricket matches) and any fool would know that their trophy cabinet is full (pun intended). However, when it comes to IPL; both of them have forgotten that they need to kill ruthlessly (hit the ball out of the park). Now, we have two Jason Bourne in MI ranks who need to be told what they are primed for. While the little master is showing encouraging signs of remembering Medusa and Blackbriar; the Matara mauler is still all at sea like the Jason Bourne in Marseilles. Now, let us shift our focus to Kings XI Punjab which has an uncanny resemblance to the Oceans XI outfit (Including the name). We have eleven hunks wearing designer suits (jerseys) and glares plotting the perfect robbery (IPL trophy). Their planning leaves much to be desired but you just know in your instinct that these eleven hunks are going to get the goods. However, they falter just before the final coup (semi finals of IPL I). In the sequel (IPL 2); you do see a subtle shift of focus from Danny Ocean (Yuvraj) to Rusty Ryan (Sangakkara). There is even a woman involved in the scheme of things. It can’t get much worse for the twelve and it sinks to the bottom at the box office (IPL 2 points table). The third edition of this franchise has now begun with a distinct change at the top. We now know for sure that Rusty (Sangakkara) has taken the baton from Danny Ocean (Yuvaraj). The initial reports are not encouraging for the XI. However, we need to wait and watch to see how far these suave XI goes. Let us now profile the usual suspects from the Far East. It is not difficult to guess that this team has all the usual suspects (including the owner) when it comes to controversy. Their captain, the prince of Kolkata has all the Keatonsque powers. So, in the second season; when the stripping of his captaincy coincided with the emergence of FIP; we thought he was Keyser Soze. Later, we realized that there was many a Verbal Flint in this team. The usual suspects have started well in the third edition and they have kept a low profile as well. We just need to see if this is a deliberate ploy to come up with the mother of all controversies. Heading south, we have the super stars (read as super kings) of IPL. Like Rajinikanth; they don’t believe in strategy, planning etc. Just like Rajinikanth can bash any baddies in multiples of ten; our super stars can chase any target in multiples of hundred. In fact, our team of super stars doesn’t even need a bowling unit. We have at the top of the order a Maaveeran who just needs a tooth pick (read as Mongoose bat) to launch any balls in orbit. At one down is the left handed Dhalapathi (who has taken charge after an injury to the captain) who can take up any challenge. The middle order is bolstered by the calming influence of Siva and Mannan. (Guess for yourself). The Maapilai of entire India; the captain comes next in the batting order followed by the firepower of Bassha and Padayappa. This is the team to beat this season. In the wild west of India; we have the royals (Antonym: criminals) fighting for the “The longest yard”. Just like Crewe the ex-quarterback; we have Warne from Down Under putting up a team of mis-fits (India rejects) and criminals (Unheard names even in domestic cricket). The team had a fairy tale longest yard run in the first edition. However, the second edition brought them right down and they finished in the bottom half of the points table. We just need to see if the new criminals can gel with the old mis-fits and criminals to regain the longest yard. Up north; we have the Double-O-Sevens from Delhi constantly decimating the opposition. The top four all have Double O badges; i.e. license to kill (thrill). Somehow the kingpin; the man with the white cat; Ernst Stavro Bloomfield (IPL Trophy) always managed to escape literally through their hands in the first two seasons. Hopefully; the Double-O-Sevens will come up with a better strategy and back up plans to capture the kingpin this time around. One word of caution is that just like the James Bond franchise; the daredevils also need to get their support act together in order to achieve the final summit. People said that Dr. Mallya’s Royal Challengers were the grand dad’s test team impersonating as a 20-20 outfit. Dr Mallya the man with the bling; would have definitely seen several diamonds (supermen) in the charcoal (Clark Kents). However, in the first season; the Clark Kents did not even know about the power they possessed and were beaten to submission. The staging of the second battle (IPL II) in far away Planet Krypton (South Africa) meant that the Royal Challengers always had home advantage as there were lots of Kryptonians (South Africans) in the team. However, the evil conspirator Lex Luthor had tied a kryptonite on their bodies and Royal Challengers were beaten royally in the first four games. Enter the support cast of Jimmy Olsen (Ray Jennings) who removes the kryptonite and instills enough confidence in superman to reach the final battle which they eventually lose. We need to wait and see which Avatar they will take in Season III. If the first week results are anything to go by; it is superman all the way. DC; the reigning champion of IPL is all set to defend their title at home turf this year. We do remember the titans (chargers) very well from Season I. Just like “Remember the Titans”; the chargers also had a racial overtone in their game. Andrew Symonds, whose racial shenanigans are well documented, forms one of the pillars of the Chargers team. In the first season; the team was lead by a home grown white (telugu) player in VVS. After a lackluster performance; the management decided to hand over the reins of the team to a black (Australian) Captain Coone (Gilchrist). He asks the former white (telugu) skipper to join him in the DC think tank which our VVS obliges. Captain Coone (Gilchrist) takes his wards to the civil war battle ground of Gettysburg (Table Mountain in Cape Town) and renders a stirring speech. The chargers become super charged and they go on to win the safari edition of IPL.

After giving the team profiles in detail; I guess you all know why I am excited to watch each and every match. If you ask me where I have put my chips; it is surely in the desi army. No firang super hero can match the power of Sultan the warrior.

Conquering Deccan (Hyderabad)

I think I need to put a disclaimer first before going into the details of this post because of the controversial nature of the title. No, I didn’t mean that my favorite team; Chennai Super Kings is going to win a match against IPL champions Deccan chargers.

They say that you need to dream to achieve something you cherish. In my case, I could achieve it sooner rather than later. I am talking about my dream to visit all the jyothir lingams in India. Next in line was Srisailam temple nestled in the midst of Nallamalai forest range (In the media coverage recently after Andhra CM Rajshekar Reddy’s chopper crash). I had promised my wife that I will join her in Hyderabad for a couple of days and make the return journey to Bangalore together. It goes without saying that the whole trip would be made in our Tata Safari. So, I decided to include Srisailam also in this trip. So, the plan was to drive from Bangalore to Hyderabad (580 km); then Hyderabad to Srisailam (220 km) and finally Srisailam to Bangalore (540 km). The whole trip was planned for four days.

My father joined me for the trip and we started from Bengaluru at 5:00 A.M on 19-02-2010. There was lot of early morning traffic in outer ring road and in NH7 till the Bengaluru International Airport at Devanahalli. However, after that the road was completely deserted and was like a tarmac. I did not want to go above 100 kph as the visibility was poor and the sun had not risen yet. We had to pay toll of Rs. 50 near the Karnataka Andhra border after ChickBallapur. Once, we crossed in to AP; the entire stretch had a dry and dusty look straight out of a spaghetti western movie. There was also 4 laning work going on. This did not deter me to take my foot off the gas pedal as the roads were completely empty and devoid of any pot holes and speed breakers. We reached Ananthpur around 8:00 A.M but could not find any good hotels to have breakfast. One curious thing about the Bangalore to Hyderabad stretch was that there were literally no good restaurants at all throughout the 580 km stretch. This was a far cry from the Southern section of NH 7 where there are so many restaurants in the Hosur to Krishnagiri stretch. We only saw dilapidated dhabas mainly catering to Truck drivers. To give credit, we saw two Ghar Dhabas attached to Bharat Petrol bunk outlets. However, we were not really hungry when we crossed those BP petrol bunks. Anyway, we reached Gooty around 9:00 A.M and had breakfast at a place (I think the name was Hotel Ravi Theja) where the food was very bad. Later, I found that it is better to order Puri Masala than Dosa or idli in AP. After the brief sojourn; I was behind the wheel by 9:30 A.M. We reached Kurnool by 11:00 A.M. After Kurnool, the NH7 is completely four laned. However, you need to pay toll three times in the 210 km stretch. I surprised myself by going at maximum speeds of 140 km/hr in some stretches. We reached Hyderabad by 2:00 P.M (That is 580 km covered in 9 hours) and reached Begumpet by 2:45 P.M. I wish the PV Narasimha Rao express way was open from our side (From Shamshabad).

We decided to cover few places in Hyderabad that day itself. So, the first destination was Birla Mandir. The drive through the picturesque necklace road around the Hussain Sagar Lake was enchanting. The traffic is un-comparable to Bangalore traffic and even at 5:30 P.M, we could travel through all the main roads at acceptable speeds of 30-40 km/hr. Another observation was that the two wheelers in the road out number the four wheelers by a fair margin and people are very helpful in giving directions. Birla Mandir will give all Bengaluru residents a nostalgic feeling of namma ISKCON temple. We headed to the busy MG road after that to get a taste of the famous Paradise Hyderabadi Biriyani.

Our destination for the next day (20-02-10) was Ramoji Fim City. We woke up on that day to find a simmering atmosphere in Hyderabad. All the newspapers had reported a possible altercation between Osmania University (OU) students and the Police because of a planned march to the Secretariat. CRPF was already deployed at OU and speculation was rife that something was going to give away. I never believed in soothsayers and promptly started our journey at 8:30 A.M. We went to Tarnaka – Uppal (Little did I know that OU was situated somewhere here) LB Nagar Ring Road and finally the Hyderabad Vijayawada highway (NH 9). We reached Ramoji Film City at 10:00 A.M and took tickets (Rs. 400 tickets). This place is very well organized. They will take you in bus from the entrance to the starting point in the Film City (called Eureka). Then, you will be taken on an open bus for guided tour of the film city. This will be followed by visits to the picturesque places (read as replicas) like Hawa Mahal, Japanese Garden, Kripalu caves etc. Then, you will be ushered to the main entertainment areas and one can roam around or catch with some of the shows.

Inside Ramoji Film City

I would recommend anyone going to visit this place to reach very early (preferably by 9:30 A.M) and leave around the time when the place closes as there are lots and lots of things to see. For 400 bucks, the entire package is a steal of a deal. The place is also very well organized with someone available to guide you wherever you go. Even food and beverages are sold at MRP (This was a pleasant surprise for some one like me coming from Bengaluru).

We were not able to complete everything as my father and my wife’s grand mother were visibly tired by evening. Our daughter Malu was also grumpy (We forgot to bring her pram and had to carry her most of the time). We left Ramoji Film City by 4:00 P.M. When, we reached Uppal, we found out that the road to Tarnaka was closed. (The reason being a student in OU attempting suicide by igniting himself). We took some alternate roads and all the roads were completely jammed which reminded me of Bangalore. We finally reached Secunderabad around 6:40 P.M and reached Begumpet around 7:00 P.M.

The next day was a Sunday and was much better than the previous days. There were no prophets of doom predicting any violence. We started our journey to Srisailam at around 8:30 A.M. We stopped briefly at Charminar to take some pictures and then continued on Hyderabad Srisailam road.

Charminar

The small state highway was devoid of any major craters. I was able to enhance my GK on sunflower cultivation in AP. By, 11:30 A.M, we were into the Nallamalai forest range. We were asked to give our name, phone number, origin and destination at Mannanur and Domalapenta check posts. At the latter check post, the guard asked me for 10 bucks for which no receipt was issued. We saw that sign boards leading to MallelaThirtam water falls.

Way to MallelaThirtam water falls

However, we continued towards Srisailam. There were couple of hair pin bends in the ghat section roads and we finally reached the Srisailam dam and reservoir. One can take a boat ride to Akka Mahadevi caves from this point. We had booked accommodation at the Devasthanam cottage using the online services. The temple was closed when we reached Srisailam at 2:00 P.M. We got the keys to our cottage and took rest. The temple was scheduled to open at 6:00 P.M. We went to the temple around that time. We took the Rs. 100 darshan tickets. We were able to get a very good darshan of Mallikarjuna Swamy (Mallanna) and Bhramarambal Devi. As usual, food was a problem. We decided to take the safe route and had rotis for dinner.

It was decided to start around 7:00 A.M on 22-02-10 from Srisailam. The distance between Srisailam and Bangalore is around 540 km. The first 200 odd kilometers is through ghat section roads. Even at 7:00 A.M, visibility was not great and there was lot of fog. We traversed through the hair pin bends and reached Dornala (47 km from Srisailam) at around 8:15 A.M. There is a very good APTDC hotel at Dornala. The food is relatively good and there are good cottages also. They charge around Rs. 1000 for a night’s stay. We resumed our journey by 9:30 A.M and passed through Nandyal and finally reached Kurnool around 12:00 P.M. From Kurnool, you will rejoin the NH7 highway. We throught of having lunch at Anantpur; however, there were no good hotels and hence we abated our hunger by having excellent AP bananas. We reached Chickballapur at around 5:00 P.M. My intuition told me that it was going to be a long and tiresome last 30 km if I take the outer ring road. I had heard of a road which connects Hosakote with Devenahalli. So, at Devanahalli, we went off the highway and found the Hosakote road. The distance to KR Puram was around 30 km and the road was nearly deserted. Once, we reached the Old Madras Road (OMR); we took the left towards K.R Puram and then another left towards Battarahalli and Lo we were back at our home by 6:00 P.M

The Vital Stats

Total Distance covered: 1477 km
10 Five Star Chocolates
134 litres of Diesel and 2 litres of Pepsi.